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Over 16,294 reviews forRaleigh Deck Builders from people just like you.

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"Mr.

kept an appointment I arranged in May and arrived on time. He listened as we described our problems with our deck and then he made" ...More detailed description of required work to be done. We accepted his recommendations and his estimate of the cost of the work to be done and he scheduled the work to begin on 6/1. We prepared for this by severely cutting back all the adjacent shrubbery and removed all furnishing from the deck. 6/1 passed with no contact. All calls went to voice mail, all Emails were unanswered. It's now June 22nd and no response of any kind. His professionalism is zero. I would definitely advise anyone to avoid any relationship with him or his company.

-Nelson & Betsy L.

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"We made an appointment over the phone to get an estimate of having new window screens installed for 7/8 windows that were without. They never came or called. We" ...More placed additional calls which were never returned.

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Angie's Answers

As stated by others: You get what you pay for. Many contractors no longer use employees. The cost/benefit ratio is gone by the time worker's comp. insurance, unemplyment and other taxes are paid. Especially with the high turnover in our industry. Many, myself included, have our guys set up as sub-contractors. That means even if the job is only for a day the duties have been outlined and a set pay to complete those duties has been established from the onset. It's a better way to manage costs once I got used to it. Also, it means I can operate cheaper and not have to charge as much to the customer. My agreements with my guys, which they sign, make it clear that I nor the homeowner are responsible for their safety and medical care should a problem arise and that all parties are relieved of any such obligation. If you hire a contractor who follows this growing practice ask to see a copy of his sub-contractor agreement.

That being said, a legitimate contractor still has operating cost which vary by area and how they run their business. I break even at $150/day not including labor and materials so I've got to charge more than that to make money. To keep the math simple, if I'm paying $250 for a pne day job in labor plus another $300 in materials and $150 operating costs I've got to charge $700 to the customer to break even. That's if I'm only doing one job a day which is why most of us manage several at a time. The point I'm trying to make is that someone with the necessary knowledge and experience to build you a safe deck is not going to be cheap. Knowledge accompanies success which costs money.

I've repaired or restructured several decks built by handymen who should find another profession. Ask yourself this question when hiring someone for this project: Would I trust this person to build my house? If the answer is no you need to find someone else. The deck is just as important. It's where your family, friends, kids are going to gather and interact. If it isn't structurally sound it can collapse causing injury or even death. One last word on decks: Always screw a deck together, don't nail it.

I agree with Jim Casper - after about 50 years of dealing with weathered wood finishing both in my homes and in the construction business, it comes down to about 90% preparation, 10% the finishing. If you do not prep the wood right, any moisture, mold, etc in the wood will destroy whatever you put over it.

High-build finishes like paint and epoxies and, from reading the Rustoleum flyer on this new product that too, work by trying to make an impenetrable surface and depend on a very good bond with the surface, AND no water getting under them. Because they are thick and are designed to provide a waterproof surface, unfortunately where water gets under them they are just as good or better at keeping it from evaporating, so you get fungal growth, blistering, and peeling.

Unfortunately, on deck and most outdoor applications except siding the surface will get nicked, scratched and otherwise develop leaks in short order. Water will therefore get into the underlying wood, and because it entered through small cracks and scratches, does not have any airflow to make it evaporate, so it sits there and breaks the finish bond to the wood (causing peeling and blisters), and promotes decay. That is why new deck boards and siding and trim that have been heavily or multi-coat painted on all 4 sides, thinking that will give the best protection, only last a few years versus the usual 10-20 years or so for boards that are painted top and sides only.

The full sun and hot conditions will, of course, cause more thann normal heating of dark colored painted decking. I had one instance where I was doing an independent appraisal of a very large commercial deck at a government facility, and in 85-90 degree daytime temps, in the sushine the chocolate brown deck surface temp was 150 degrees, and the paint was softening so much it stuck to the bottom of your shoes a couple of months after application.

As Jim said, the studies pretty clearly show that a breathable penetrating stain gives the best life, after plain ACA/CCA (copper chromium variations - the green stuff) treated wood. Penetrating stains, properly applied, do NOT seal in the moisture, they inhibit its entry and (when dark colored) help protect against sun damage to the wood and finish, but still breathe enough to let moisture escape on dry days. For my money, I will only use petroleum distillate (paint thinner cleanup) products, as they penetrate into the wood much better. Water based ones immediately start swelling the wood pores, so it blocks further penetration of the stain, which while cleanup is a bit easier, totally defeats the purpose of a PENETRATING stain or sealer.

I would recommend against any sort of waterproofing sealer, as they trap the water just like paint, and I have never seen one that is effective for 2 years.

My personal preference, though it limits the architectural coloration possibilities, is ground-contact rated copper compound treated wood (NOT the Wolmanized brown product), which comes green initially but can be retreated with either green or brown solution or can be liquid colorized darker (though not easily to a specific tone) using either of those as a base. My practice is to redo the treatment before installation to ensure thorough treatment, as from the mill it commonly has skips where boards contacted each other or where stacking seperators laid on it, and the ends are commonly very poorly done. This is done after cutting to length, as cut ends have to be retreated anyway. A simple short deck cleaner soak followed by a light pressure washing and brush or roller re-treating of ONLY the TOP surface every 10 years or so has, for me, reduced visible weathering of the boards and beams to negligible.

Assuming you buy the right size door to fit the rough opening, and that your old door is not a size that is no longer made, and that you get the correct depth and transition adapters and sills and flashing and trim and seals and such, and that you transport it home without distorting and damaging it, then removal and disposal of old one and install new one probably about $250-400 depending on how well it fits, number of transition and similar pieces that have to be assembled (from 1 or 2 for some doors to as many as 30 on others).

The laundry list of things at the start WAS intended to intimidate you - I would say not 1 in 25 homeowners who buy a new patio door have bought it the right size for the rough opening and have everything needed to install it - the contractor almost invariably has to go get materials or parts to complete the installation - sometimes waiting weeks for factory adapters that are needed or missing parts AFTER the original door has already been taken out.

I would question why you are going to probably spend as much installing a door that may not do the job for you as the cost of the door. I would hazard at least half of people who go buy a $250-400 cheap door at a box store are sorely disappointed within months - due to poorly fitted parts, bad or non-existent seals causing drafts or water leaks, fogging or breaking glass, etc.

I would recommend you assess your needs, in conjunction with your installer find a decent and reputable brand unit to fit that need and that fits the loction right, and probably pay 50% more installed but have something that you might actually be happy with. Oh - BTW - your best installers generally will not install the cheapest box store units because they do not want the callbacks, so many times the quality of the installer who will actually do the job for you at a price you are willing to pay gives you a job that is - you guessed it, worth what you paid for it.

Deck Building reviews in Raleigh

See above. The only item we should have included was carpet padding. The home improvement store were we purchased the indoor/outdoor carpet told us that padding was not necessary.”

- Ken G.

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As I sat on my porch tonight and again reflected on the amazing job that

did, I realized that I really owed him this review
From the time that we bought our house 13 years ago, we had wanted to build a bigger porch, and even had a design from the original builder. We finally decided to go for it after visiting a friends ...More house with a large porch and set out to interview several contractors. There are a lot of fly by night guys in the porch business and we probably talked to several of them.

had built a porch for a family member, so we asked him over and realized that we finally had the right person.

really listened to what we wanted and put together a design that was radically different from our builder's original vision. A year out and I can assure you, it was just stunning. One of our main concerns was to make the porch look like a part of the original house and not just stuck on.

's design matched the roof lines and style while meeting all of our desires on sight lines and light.
The only downside to the experience was time - the project kicked off in October and we had a horrible winter that slowed down the timing of the foundation pour as well as several parts of the construction. We got frustrated,

got frustrated, but in the end it did all got done. In hindsight, none of it was that bad but I think that anyone taking on a project like this needs to be ready for the time to go long and to have to live in a construction site while that is going on.
we've since visited several other new porches and the quality of our construction really shows by comparison - particularly after a year has passed.

and his crew really know what they are doing.
I've read a couple of reviews that really called

's customer service into question. I really do find that hard to accept based on my experience. In the re-decking of our original deck,

had a measurement problem and realized that the new porch would be about an inch higher than the old deck. While many contractors would have just let this go,

knew that everything would work best with a seamless transition from the porch to the deck so he rebuilt the whole structure of the deck as well, adding considerable cost and taking it all out of his end. I never had to even ask - he just wanted to do what was right.
I spent a lot of money with

and I would not hesitate to do it again.”

- Charles F.

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“

is wonderful. He listens and pays attention to detail. And he communicates frequently so that you know- and are involved- in the decision-making along the way.
Our bathroom is beautiful! We're looking forward to everything else that he's doing for us!!!”

- Ann B.

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Initial estimate was scheduled and completed within a week of when I first called. I thought the job may have been too small for them to tackle, but

assured me that was no problem. We discussed options and the complete work that needed to be done and I had an estimate that day. They crew was out the next week and did all the ...More repairs in ~4 hours. They were prompt, cleaned up afterwards, and made sure I was happy with the results. I'd definitely use them again!”

- Dan W.

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“

My husband designed our new deck, and we contracted NC Exteriors to build the deck. We were in a rushed time frame
because we were getting married and wanted to have the reception in our back yard (on the deck). We had previously booked with another contractor but that fell thru, so we needed someone in a hurry.
Our initial reaction to ...More NC Exteriors was positive. Their friendly salesman promptly came out and was very eager and
easy to work with. We showed our custom deck plans and noticed some hesitation due to the fact that our design wasn’t the usual “cookie-cutter” deck design.My husband is a talented deck designer and we wanted something more creative.
So, the salesman assured us that there would be no problem adhering to our design plan. He then turned the project
over to their contract supervisor who would be overseeing the project. That supervisor was easy to work with, but again
was hesitant to do anything other than the usual rectangular box that most deck companies offer. He hired inexpensive labor that proved to be unreliable. (not even showing to work one day). The supervisor came only when we called with a
question. (Not really overseeing the construction like we thought). During the period that the labor contractors were working on our deck, our lawn mover went missing. We can’t prove that they stole it, but it did seem too coincidental.
None-the-less, the deck was completed on time and we are satisfied with the finished project.
Our main complaint is with the owner;

. He proved to be very dishonest with us and showed a lack of integrity.
He disrespected us with not returning phone calls and/or emails. My husband called and emailed him repeatedly with no response from him. Being ignored like that is completely unacceptable and disrespectable. He made it apparent that his policy is all about making money quickly and as cheaply as possible for him. Due to this company’s owner;

, we will never do business with this company again, nor we will recommend NC Exteriors to anyone.

”

- Cathy D.

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built a 6 foot privacy fence for our yard. They were great to work with. They quickly scheduled an appointment and promptly provided an estimate. When we changed our design, they responded quickly and provided a revised estimate. The work was completed very soon after we paid the initial deposit. The installation went well and ...More the installer was very considerate. The final work far exceeded our expectations. The fence itself is one of the best looking privacy fences I have ever seen. I would not hesitate to use

again, and I highly recommend their services.”

- Heather F.

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Workmen arrived early everyday- worked consistently, efficiently, professionally, all day long. Explained what to expect all through the process. Protected our landscaping, deck, and deck furniture, cleaned up well at the end of each day.”

- William and Colleen L.

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was my main contact and he is the owner. They did a great job and I will be using them again this year to do some work inside my home. I interviewed about 5 companies before deciding to go with

. They were always at my home by 7:00am ready to go to work. The workers all used professional language and ...More always cleaned up behind themselves. I found the crew to be trustworthy and left my door unlocked while I was not there for them to use the bathroom. If your willing to pay for great quality and awesome service you will be completely satisfied using